The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, located in Shoreham, is electrical engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla's last remaining laboratory. Photo Credit: Joe Suillivan

An organization of physicists has named inventor Nikola Tesla’s former Shoreham laboratory a national historical site.

Representatives of the American Physical Society made the announcement on Dec. 11, during ceremonies at the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. Tesla did experiments at the Shoreham lab in the early 1900s.

A news release from the science center said the historical designation “is to raise public awareness of physics.”

In a statement, Sam Aronson, a past president of the society and former director of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, said Tesla “made monumental contributions to the development of AC power. Today Tesla’s alternating current system is lighting the whole planet.”

Local organizers plan to open a museum at the Shoreham site in 2018 highlighting Tesla’s work and career.